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Having played Battleheart Legacy($4.99/Universal for iPhone and iPad) for nearly a month now, let me share some of the tips and tricks I learned.

For a more extensive walkthrough, there are plenty of excellent and in-depth resources out there, such as in the Touch Arcade forum, but I hope my own experience will help you out as a starting player. (Check out the review/guide to Battleheart Legacy on appSIZED here)

Ever played a game where you wanted to be the character who had a little bit of everything? Say, a spellcasting ninja master? Or a knight able to summon the undead? Or perhaps, a humble bard, purveyor of tale and song, yet able to take down long range enemies with a handy bow and arrow? Or do you want to have it all? Hero classes such as barbarian, knight, rogue, ranger, monk, witch, wizard, etc. are farmiliar archetypes in RPGs (role playing games) and are easily defined by the strengths and limitations of their powers and abilities… but in Battleheart Legacy, you can have it all.

the original Battleheart

If you played the original Battleheart back in 2011, it was groundbreaking and original. What made it unique was that you could control four (4) of them at once simply by drawing lines from point A to point B, and activating a set of special powers and skills for each one. In Battleheart, you can freely experiment with with the party type system and develop your heroes’ skills, boost their stats with weapons and equipment to get these guys to work seamlessly together. Battleheart, in its own way, changed how we should design and play games on a touchscreen device. While there are many copycats, Battleheart remains unparalleled.

Now, in Battleheart Legacy, you are now a solo player and party-based combat is not used in this game. With Legacy employing a gameplay mechanic different from Battleheart, does it live up to the awesomeness of the original?

After being in more than two years of development, Mika Mobile's hotly anticipated spiritual successor to Battleheart – one of the best games ever on an iDevice, Battleheart Legacy has finally arrived! I just started playing it and here are some screenshots.

Battleheart Legacyis an action RPG (role playing game) that takes place in a open world that you can explore and have fun with. You can interact with various characters, wander into taverns and deserted areas, and just make your way around your new world.

Did you play the original Bug Heroes game? I did. Years later, Bug Heroes 2 ($0.99/Universal) is Foursaken media's latest addition to their lineup, following Bug Heroes Quest.

I must admit that while I played the first game extensively, the unlockable characters via in-app purchase threw me off. It didn't help that I sucked at the game and it seemed that no matter how hard I tried, I just didn't have powerful enough characters to use.

As for Bug Heroes 2, there are significant improvements and more problems compared to the original. It's still the same game as the original – you control an arsenal of fighting bugs (spiders, ants, etc.) and use them to fend of waves of aggressive enemies who are out to steal your food stash (a.k.a. your base). This time, however, you have two (2) heroes to control. These heroes are obtained randomly (slot machine style), and more heroes require a certain number of stars to unlock further.

In any fantasy adventure, the bard usually plays a supporting role, providing inspiration and support to the rest of the party with his songs about war and heroism.

In my current game of choice, and one I highly recommend, Bardbarian for iPhone and iPad (by Bulky Pix and Tree Fortress), it’s Brad the Bard who takes centerstage in fighting off nasty baddies invading his village. However, Brad can’t directly attack them, but his battle axe turned magical musical instrument generates notes which lets him summon allies who do the fighting for him. What Brad can do is to activate special powers to boost his units, such as increased damage, speed or protection.

channel your inner slash

It’s not easy to classify Bardbarian as one type of game but not another – the best way to put it is that it’s a crazy mishmash of different genres such as castle defense and a bit of RPG – crazy in a good way, of course.

If you still know the likes of Slash (Guns N Roses) and Kirk Hammet (Metallica), you’ll know that this Bard plays a mean guitar solo. So on top of a crazy, frantic game you get a pretty awesome soundtrack.

Magicka for iPad was featured Game of the Week by Apple. It is a sidescroller where you constantly move forward in a linear fashion with enemies attacking you from both sides. At your disposal are elemental runes which you can combine into various spells, each with their respective properties. For example, lighting and water don't go together, but if you combine lightning with fire, you can cast a thunderbolt spell. Some spell combinations produce powerful spells – you can create meteor storms, blizzards, explosions, which are unlocked as rewards after completing a level. (Like it so far? read on …)

As I’ve said many times, tower defense games are a dime a dozen in the App Store and it takes a lot for one to stand out.

Myth Defense – Light Forces sounded intriguing enough when I first checked it out. Unlike most games, it offers extensive customizability of its towers and offers a skill tree of sorts where you can choose what kind of upgraded towers you want, say whether you want it launch arrows or fireballs. You can also boost tower performance by combining various runes and enlisting the aid of dwarves, elves, etc. to create more powerful towers.

Sail high on the perilous seas with Powder Monkeys a light and casual role playing game (RPG) with loads of that puts you at the helm of the Monkey Navy, sworn to take back the islands from your Bug foes.

Because it’s the season to be jolly, some great games have gone on sale early into the Yuletide season!

1) Pound for Pound (Universal/FREE) – Manny Pacquiao fans might want to check out this boxing game with an RPG flavor, to throw some fancy punches, rescue a damsel in distress and be Pacquiao for a few hours. The game needs some work in the controls department, but as far as likeness goes, this freebie for a limited time is a must for Pacquiao fans.

2) EPOCH (Universal/$2.99) – Apple’s former Game of the Week for iPad is a futuristic, cover shooting action game boasting of some pretty gorgeous graphics courtesy of UnrealEngine, the guys behind Infinity Blade. Now that it’s on sale for a limited time, make sure you don’t miss it!

3) Mirror’s Edge for iPad (iPad/FREE) – You gotta love EA for their daily freebies! Mirror’s Edge is a platform game where the Runners (such as Faith, the character you’ll be playing) are the last bastion of freedom in a dystopian future. You can do some pretty fancy running and jumping tricks while admiring the city scenery. The iPhone version is also FREE!

Just when you thought the massive Thanksgiving holiday app shopping spree was over, this weekend is just full of more surprises and great deals! There are so many to choose from, but here are some handpicked appSIZED recommendations:

2) Ninjatown: Trees of Doom (iPhone/iPad) – Climb your way to the top, ninja-style, in this utterly charming game kids will also love. The game is FREE for a limited time to celebrate Venan Entertainment’s new game, Book of Heroes for the iPhone.

3) Unlikely Suspects HD: Full (iPad) – Hidden object adventure fans with a penchant for crime solving ought to check out this interesting title from MumboJumbo games, now on sale for $2.99 only. You might want to check out their other titles, such as the Luxor series and Midnight Mysteries titles, which are also on sale.

4) Space Miner (iPhone/iPad) – One of my favorite games, Space Miner HD makes busting up space rocks awesome thanks to its deep gameplay and wicked sense of humor. The fact that it’s FREE this weekend only is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so grab it now.